14 June 42 - 17 June 42 Executive Summary
As we head into the fourth of July Holiday it won't be until the 4th that AirGriff is near a PC to send me back the last turn so this will have to hold me over for my WITP:AE fix!
Seems thathe is up to something off of Burma and I will explore this in a separate post is more detail.
Mostly jockeying for position for the next action by both sides as I wait for the Wasp to arrive in Pearl (6 - 8 more days) and then move on Baker Island.
I spent the last turn hitting every Allied Air unit on map, to move around pilots. All my non-training units now have 70 Primary sill and training secondary skills unless on the front line.
Raiding
Sub attack near Soerabaja AMC Asaka Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage vs SS Porpoise
Sub attack near Phuket AP Buenos Aires Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire,
Allied Ships SS Trusty, hits 4
Submarine attack near Ouv'ea SS I-158 vs AGP Sirius, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
(later sinks)
Submarine attack near San Francisco SS I-4 vs xAK Manoeran, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
(later sinks)
Submarine attack near Ta'u SS I-1 AK Ethel Edwards, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
(later sinks)
Submarine attack near Vanikoro SS I-28 vs AGP Wega, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
(later sinks)
These four days clearly go to him, each of my convoys had at least one escort and air cover but this time it did not matter. There are more AMs on the way to Fiji and Somoa but there are still at least a week out.
Fleet of Doom
USN CAR DIV 1 (Hornet), USN CAR DIV 2 (Yorktown), CAR DIV 3 (Enterprise), Force H (3 UK CVs), Force Z (Repluse) and the USN 1st Bat Div are at Pearl. Ready to deploy as needed. The Wasp is on map and in route to Peal to form CAR DIV 4 six to eight days out - the North Carolinia will join Force Z.
Lexington and Saratoga in for their June Upgrades (27 days left). The Yorktown, Enterprise and Hornet have been upgraded to TBF-1 Avengers’. All carrier pilots (minus Lexington and Satatoga) have been swapped around this now allows for all both these carriers to have pilots will primary skill at or above 70. Experience for Fighter units is above 70, for DB/TBs it averages a little over 60. The Hornet and Yorktown Marine ACUs are using F4F-3s and the Enterprise Marine ACU is using the F4F-4. The Lexington and Saratgoa air groups are training pilots like made, I should have enough 70 skills pilots to outfit these air groups outside of the TBs. I have two full PBY groups training the NavT skill (as of 12/08/41) but I don't think I will catch up in the next 27 days.
Mini-Doom
We are building a small CVE fleet. Currently it comprises the Long Island with 17 Marine F2A-3 Buffalo fighters. The CVL Hermes with 20 Sea Hurricane Ib aircraft is in route and will join this force at Christmas Island is ~10 days.
KB and Mini-KB
Mini-KB (?) + KB (?) eight hexes from Port Blair and Rangoon (nice positioning by AirGriff!) seven days ago. Location Unknown at this time, suspect it was going to also provide air and naval cover but was pulled while he replenished his bomber force that was smashed. Given the appearance of the invasion fleet (assumed target is Port Blair) I am going to assume this force will appear again shortly in support.
Java
He is within two hexes of Batavia --- with overwhelming force. This does not look good at all and should fall long before the month is out.
China
The Chinese ACU pulls back to regroup and rearm in the face of Ki-43-Ic Oscar sweeps. After two days of me not contesting he moves in with just escorting and bombing --- when the air unit recovers its moral I might looks at sending two Chinese ACU to back if the air field is still working. He has continued to bombard the hex for days to work to burn off my supplies, supplies stand at 2.1K (climbing). We also have 32K troops in the max stacking of 40K.
His army is also prepping for a 42/43 offensive once Wenchow falls. Moving units to hold the areas he is prepping to attack and protect against any Flanking maneuvers. Targets he is prepping for are: Sian, Wuchow, Changsha and Chenchow.
Ceylon
At this point this appears to be his next major area of advance or possibly just a signal intelligence faint. Using Intel Monkey the following are shown prepping for Colombo: 61st Division, 67 Inf Bde and the 53rd Division. Right now I have four Indian Infantry Bde's on the Island once in each port with the forts for each Level 3 and climbing. The 23rd Indian Infantry also defends Colombo. In reserve we have One Air HQ and Indian Infantry Division at Madras. There is also one Indian Infantry Division is in Bombay as a strategic reserve.
I have the 22nd African Infantry Bde in to Diego Garcia to help hold my flank. I am going to assume that Ceylon depends on the fall of Java to free up transports and his carriers.
The current operational plan is to see if I can turn this into a tar baby if he lands. Right now I am stripping the island down to 60K total supply and moving all but 40K of fuel back to India to deny him an gains. I will also move all of 100K of resources off the island. The air force can be moved to Madras as needed from the Indian/Burma boarder where it sits now.
I have the slow British force built around four BBs ready to hit him from Celyon if I determine that the KB/Mini-KB are elsewhere.
Burma
There is no fighter action over Rangoon. There are no units now shown on the other side of the river across from Pegu. Intel Monkey shows the 55th Infantry Bde, 33rd Division, 204th Ship Eng Coy, 21st Med FA Bn, 15th Army, 55th Eng Reg, 112th Infantry Reg and 14th Ind. Art. Mortar Bn prepping for Rangoon.
At Rangoon to oppose them I have the 1st Burma Infantry Division, the 17th Indian Infantry Division, three Burma Infantry Bn, three base force Bn, the Burma Corps HQc, 24K of Supplies, Fort 5-29%, one P-40E ACU, three British fighter ACUs. There are four HDML's to provide bombardment cover.
At Mandalay I have 34K of supplies, three poorly equipped Indian Armored Cav Rgts, the 7th Armored Bde, three Burma Infantry Bn, two base force and Forts 3 - 86%. There is one Burma Inf Bn and one Burma Inf Bde that will fall back from the front to support Mandalay as needed. May need to fall back to India as supplies run out if he grabs Ceylon and prevents any sea supply, as the British Fleet Carriers are with the Fleet of Doom on the other side of the map.
At Port Blair I have four HDML, 1 ACM, 148 mines, 2 Base Forces and the 45th Indian Bde, 47K of Supplies and Fort 3-67%. All land units are 100% prep'd and the leader of the 45ht has been upgraded.
Operation Apple Jacks
One day late and a dollar short, so it is now a battle of attrition to regain Ndeni. The goal is to turn this into a front where we can bring the same amount or more force into play and drain him of planes, supplies and pilots. I want to see if I can use up my current model airplanes before they cannot be used on the front lines in early 1943.
At Vanikoro is a Port level 1, the Airfield 3-33% and the Fort 3-12%, 12 PT Boats. Looking to scrounge up an AGP, ACM and 150 mines. The 1st Marine Raider Bn and the 8th Marine Def Bn, 1st US Naval Construction Bn , 13th MAG HQ, 2nd USMC Parachute Bn, 2/7 Commando Bn and the Del Monte AAF Base Force are at this location. There is one P-39D ACU and one PBY-5 ACU located at this base.
Luganville is safe with Forts Level 3, Airfield 6-14% Two CD LCUs, one ACM, Second Marine Divion + a lot of Friends, 148 mines and six crappy DDs + one the CA Chester. If I can come up with the PT boats I will also add some here but this may take a while as I have a bunch of them in the Line Islands. The island has 284 Aviation Support and one Air HQ. Five B-17E ACUs and one B-17D ACU ready to bomb the Level 2 Airfield at Tulagi (there is one LB-30 ACU that can also help later). We have intel has ~40 Ki-43-Ic Oscar there at the present time. The Airfield will expand to the needed level eight in the next ten days or so and then we will resume the air war. We have two P-38E ACUs that are repairing after the upgrade and one P-39D for local air defense.
In the next 30 days or sooner the following will occur to support the advance on Ndeni in Phase 2:
1) The medium range bombers from Pago Pago will deploy to Lugnaville to smash the airfields or Ports that are built on Ndeni, as air field space is created.
2) Additional units will be found to add to the 7th Marine Reg, 641st Towed TD Bn and the 4th FA Bn that are now prepping for Ndeni (12% and counting).
3) A trickle down of fighters to the four Marine ACUs at Pago Pago has started. As ACUs with the F2A-2 Buffalo's are filled out they will be added to the air war over the Santa Cruz Islands.
4) The two A-24 ACUs and one Marine SB2U-3 ACU will move from Luganville to Vanikoro for naval cover.
5) There are two US 25 Figher ACU's located at Suva and Pago Pago that can be rotated in as needed for air cover --- along with four 25 Fighter ACU's located at Noumea.
The needed lift is in place in Suva, unless there is a reason not to - four days after the landing at Baker Island we will land to take this island back.
Operation Honeycomb
Planning for this operation is now underway, target date after June 18th or when the KB/Mini-KB is spotted. The 40th US Infantry Division, 110th Combat Engr Bn, 763rd Tank Bn and the 223rd FA Bn will attack Baker Island from Christmas Island. All units are prepping and are around 90%. The needed lift is at the island just waiting for the Wasp to arrive in Pearl.
Operation Mr. T
The retaking of the Ellice Islands: Vaitupu and Funafuti. Allied high command wants to make sure we keep the pressure on him from both the Southwest and Central Pacific. I think I am going to fall into a very historical Left-Right attack along the MacArthur and Nimitz lines of advance.
From Nadi the 4 FA Bn, 32nd Infantry Div and the 192nd Tank Bn will attack Funafuti, preparation in the mid 40’s. The 754th Tank Bn, Americal Inf Div and the 205th FA Bn will attack from Koumac and take Vaitupu - 50% prepped and climbing.
Operation Cookie-Crisp
The landing at Tabiteuea and Tarawa. Forces will stage from Pearl will take these islands. At this point it is just planning and prepping. I don’t expect to be able to do this until all the carriers have completed their upgrades.
For Tabiteuea the 27th Infantry Division, the 181st FA Bn, 763rd Tank Bn and the 134th Cmbt Engr Bn are all prepping for this in the mid-40s.
For Tarawa the 21st Infantry Rgt (Restricted), 34th Infantry Rgt and the 34th Combat Engr Rgt are all prepping in the mid-30’s.
Japanese Amphibious Landings:
Amphibious Assault at Cebu (80,86)
Amphibious Assault at Kirakira (116,140)
Amphibious Assault at Normanby Island (102,133)
Japan Conquerors the Following Bases:
Enderbury Island
Banjoewangi
Sydney Island
Kirakira
Normanby Island
Allies Amphibious Landings:
None.
Allies Conquerors the Following Bases:
None.
